By Craig Kwasniewski
By Craig Kwasniewski
Posted at 02:04 AM in All-Star Game | Permalink | Comments (1)
By Craig Kwasniewski
Is there anything better than a reaction shot of Dikembe Mutombo? If it was up to me I'd isolate one camera on him all night and call it the Mutombo-cam. Here he is right after the Superman Dunk from Dwight Howard, but I guarantee you got the same reaction after the Cupcake Dunk, after the Three-Point Shootout, after buying cotton candy, after finding his seat and even after hearing Dr. John moan thru another song. Why can't TNT just skip a year of Magic Johnson and his "the dunk contest is back" statements and give a headset to Deke? How great would it be to hear Cookie Monster try to describe the Cupcake Dunk?
Posted at 02:59 PM in All-Star Game, Rockets | Permalink | Comments (1)
By Craig Kwasniewski
All-Star Saturday Night has always been one of my favorite events of the entire NBA All-Star Weekend. Maybe it's because I always find myself waxing nostalgia for the great moments of the 1980's, like MJ in the dunk contest or Bird's throwing up the #1 sign as he wins the three-point shootout. But I also love that all the significant ballers in the association gear up and hang out for the night. If All-Star Weekend was a wedding, this would be the rehearsal dinner, with people eating, getting drunk and doing their "I love you man!" speeches.
Anyway, here's some quick takes that I jotted down while watching All-Star Saturday Night on Tivo:
-David Robinson needs to take advice from Kareem, MJ and Samuel Jackson and shave his damn head.
-So the big change to all star Saturday night is to add a final round to the Shooting Stars competition? Why not have a half-court shot competition?
-Haier Shooting Stars brought to you by Chinese prison labor (they're headquartered in China).
-I'll take even odds on Duncan and Robinson Chinese Finger Cuffing (brought to you by Haier) that WNBA chick.
PlayStation® Skills Challenge
-Big question for skills competition: will Kidd spit on his Nets jersey?
-Hey Mavs fans, with Kidd comes a bajillion shots of his son sitting courtside. Do you REALLY need this?
-Second big question: will D-Wade wear a #32 with "fuck you" on the back?
-How very Miami Heat of Wade to have a turnover in the skills competition... A turnover?????
-Inspector LeBron James? Is it raining inside the New Orleans Arena?
-Maybe Dallas should reconsider the Kidd trade after seeing the Skills Competition (and CP3 and Williams skillz)... And thank Devean George along the way. Again, non-stop shots of Kidd's son!
-Yay, a bunch of corporate tools win a PS3!
-Why do we have to vote for the greatest dunk ever... every.. single.. year?
Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout
-Nice to see the band "White Man Overbite" do the opening montage to the Three-Point Shootout.
-Even Barkley and Jet Smith miss the first two events, and so do half of the fans. Again, can't we spruce this thing up with higher payouts or better competitions?
-You can see that Rip practiced for this, but not for the line (he stepped over a ton).
-Can someone please say Money Shot?
-Boobie was the tits (stupid joke, but what do you expect after a few beers?).
-Nash gets 9, which is in Canadian dollars, so it's really 15.
-WOW, the world is near the end: Eli Manning doing a Gatorade "worldofclutch.com" add. Even Giant fans have trouble believeing that one! (Believe me, in 10 years we'll be asking ourselves how he got a SB MVP.
-Can't they allow Dirk to shoot with Rammstein playing? (Du Hast Me!)
-Dirk's arc goes higher than the shot clock... Awesome!
-Funniest remark of the night, "is Damon Jones still in this league?"
-Dirk almost hit the camera with the arc!
-Props to Kapono! Another Miami Heat moment? Oh yeah, Pat Riley let him go and traded for Rickey Davis. Let's ask Wade for his thoughts... "Fuck you, Riles!!!"
-Soooo pedictable to have Dr. John sing before the dunk contest (read: piss break). You're telling me that there's no other entertainers from New Orleans? They literally roll this guy out for every sporting event in New Orleans.
-Why give Magic Johnson a mic? Does it come with subtitles?
-Moon opens strong!
-Dwight Howard with a flat out 10! Not just for behind the backboard, but for the windmill follow-up.
-Birthday cake looks promising, but call it correct: Cupcake.
-Magic with his annual "The slam dunk is back!" He literally does this every year.
-Cupcake is a 10 for creativity! Reminds me of the Sticker Dunk from last year. And the voters did the same thing and screwed over the most creative dunk so far.
-How did Daryl Dawkins give an 8 for the Cupcake Dunk? His nickname is Chocolate Thunder... It was a chocolate cupcake!!!
-Rudy Gay's dunk is more like a 9 compared to Howard and Green.
-Moon can't use a one dimensional jump shooter (Kapono) to pass for his dunk.
-Green's second dunk was an 8.
-Dwight Howard is a pure showman!!! The Superman Dunk ranks up there with the best ever for the hype alone.
-All these creative dunks give me an idea... The scoring system should be broken into two parts: creativity and physicality. Just to rate all these dunks on the same 10 scale doesn't give it justice.
-Gerald Green's first dunk in the final was a 9.5 (between legs off a toss)
-Again Dwight Howard's 1st dunk in the finals would get a 10 for creativity along with a 10 for physicality (the switch hands off the glass one).
-Socks dunk would have been better earlier, but not after Howard's show-stoppers.
-"Let's go home!" Kenny Smith appropriately said it best after Howard's last dunk. Hands down, Howard was the most creative ever!
-Magic needs to stop saying "it is back!" for the 27th year in a row!
-There's no need to go "American Idol" by giving the judges a mic; just awkward and a total momentum killer. Even Sheryl Miller had to pull the plug on Dr. J's endless old-guy rant.
-Finally, Dwight Howard deserves to win with the unique creativity along with his imprssive skills... a good way to end an above-average All-Star Saturday Night.
Posted at 01:20 AM in All-Star Game | Permalink | Comments (3)
by Brett Edwards
We love us our All-Star gear around these parts, here are some leaked photos of this year's uniforms. No official word from the NBA if these are the final versions, but we'll take what we can get for now. The kicks from adidas aren't bad, either.
[via Ballhype]
Posted at 10:51 AM in All-Star Game, Gear | Permalink | Comments (15)
By Craig Kwasniewski
(Conspiracy theory alert!!!)
Am I the only one who felt that Phoenix getting the 2009 NBA All-Star Game was a little strange? Think about it, much like the NFL and the Super Bowl, the NBA uses its All-Star Game as a sort of leverage or message. Open a new publicly financed arena and your city will get the NBA All-Star game along with the financial windfall that comes with all the week's festivities. Phoenix even hosted it back in 1995 in their newly opened publicly financed America West Arena. Check out the list of recent All Star Games back to the last one to be held in an old arena (Hoops Mecca, Madison Square Garden back in 1998):
1999 - Philadelphia (Wachovia Center, opened in 1996, postponed for lock-out)
2000 - Oakland (Oracle Arena, $121 million in renovations in 1997)
2001 - Washington D.C. (Verizon Center, opened in 1997)
2002 - Philadelphia (Wachovia Center, make up date for 1999)
2003 - Atlanta (Philips Arena, opened in 1999)
2004 - Los Angeles (Staples Center, opened in 1999)
2005 - Denver (Pepsi Center, opened in 1999)
2006 - Houston (Toyota Center, opened in 2003)
2007 - Las Vegas (Thomas & Mack, logistics test for potential NBA franchise)
2008 - New Orleans (New Orleans Arena, Hurricane Katrina)
2009 - Phoenix (US Airways Center, ????)
As you can see, most All-Star Games are rewards for all the public dollars spent on new/improved arenas. So why would Phoenix get an NBA All-Star Game in their older arena before cities like Memphis (FedExForum, opened in 2004) or Charlotte (Charlotte Bobcats Arena, opened in 2005) or even San Antonio (AT&T Center, opened in 2002)? Why?
There's one simple answer:
The 2007 NBA playoffs and Tim Donaghy. As I wrote back in July:
As many of you already know, Donaghy refereed game 3 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Spurs and Suns. At the time, many watching the game felt something wasn't quite right about the officiating. Add in Amare's suspension and you get the feeling that the Spurs didn't earn their victory over Phoenix, but were rather handed the title.
Giving Phoenix the 2009 NBA All-Star Game is David Stern's way of buying off the Suns' silence regarding all the crap they put up with during the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals against the Spurs. Call me crazy (as many Spurs fans have... Dave!), but I really can't come up with any other reason why the NBA chose Phoenix (outside of Robert Sarver going Olympic Committee on Stern and hiring a year supply of hookers). With this year's Super Bowl and the Fiesta Bowl, it's not like Phoenix is starving for major sporting events. Maybe Stern prefers cigarette smokers, 115 degree heat and melanoma.
All I'm sayin' is that this seems strange.
Posted at 01:07 AM in All-Star Game | Permalink | Comments (3)
by Brett Edwards
Here's the video from my seat at All-Star Saturday Night of the Barkley/Bavetta race. This was actually a hilarious break in the action, and I wish they could come up with a stunt like this every year for All-Star weekend. The crowd was laughing their asses off the entire time.
Posted at 08:23 PM in All-Star Game | Permalink | Comments (0)
by Brett Edwards
Just about to head home after three days in Vegas, and as you can imagine it's been amazing. I'll have plenty to share when I get back, but for now you can hear some of my tales on The Basketball Jones world famous podcast. Skeets, Tas and I discuss the Saturday night festivities, some celebrity sightings, and much more. Many thanks to those guys for having me on!
So go download Episode-One-Zero-Four, have a listen, and we'll talk when I get back. Cool?
Posted at 09:27 AM in All-Star Game, Podcasts | Permalink | Comments (1)
By Craig Kwasniewski
Here's some random thoughts on All Star Saturday Night:
-There's a ton of empty seats! I spoke with Brett, who was in Vegas covering the festivities for AOL, and he confirmed what you saw on TV... empty seats all around. Thomas and Mack was 60% full right up to the Three Point Contest. Maybe it was the traffic, but I'm leaning toward the ridiculous prices that the ticket agencies were charging (about $600 each for endzone upper deck seats). I'm really curious what happens at the All-Star game, which had prices starting at $1,500 each for the worst seats.
-Bill Laimbeer is no longer just an asshole. He is one fat, jelly doughnut-eating, cut his leg and gravy pours out, so fat he uses the ocean as a bath tub asshole. Nothing's changed over time. Last night he was chasing down the refs during an exhibition contest. He must really need that prize money. I guess coaching a WNBA team (karma's a bitch!) doesn't pay much. Though I thought congress raised the minimum wage a few weeks ago.
-The NBA Shooting Stars competition has finally hit rock bottom. No, I'm not talking about the clock malfunctions at Thomas & Mack. I'm talking about Smush Parker representing the Los Angeles Lakers. So for a $600 upper deck seat you get to see the worst starting guard in the NBA brick a slew of uncontested shots. Good times.
-Kobe lost in the finals of the Skills Challenge at the first passing station (insert a bajillion "Kobe can't pass" jokes here) as Dwyane Wade (who for the first time ever in his entire life won a competition without the help of the refs!) ending up winning easily. There's definitely an unfriendly rivalry between the two of them. I didn't see any of the typical All-Star Staturday camaraderie between them. Though the upside is that both D-Wade and Kobe brought a B+ game to the table. They, along with Steve Nash, are the only superstars who have ever tried to win the challenge.
-Hey Mary J. Blige, MC Hammer called, he wants his pants back.
-The Barkley vs. Bavetta race was brilliant! The whole event took me back to the Battle of the Network Stars right down to the campy jokes and Barkley falling over at the finish line. For nostalgia, couldn't they mix in a guest spot of Charlene Tilton's breasts.
-Jason Kapono won the Three Point Contest, ranking up there with Tim Legler as the most worthless player to win on All-Star Saturday Night. Does that mean we'll start seeing Kapono on deadspin.com with groupies? (Tim Legler, Apparently, Has Groupies)
-Finally, Dwight Howard got screwed! The Sticker Dunk was a perfect combination of showmanship and athleticism. Maybe Howard should have hyped the dunk up for a few days, but the surprise was part of the act. Someone should have intervened (David Stern, Wayne Newton, The Blue Man Group) the moment we found out that Nate Robinson was in the finals.
Posted at 03:39 PM in All-Star Game | Permalink | Comments (2)
By Craig Kwasniewski
Message to David Stern: Please don't go 3-D HD for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game.
The National Basketball Association has teamed up with PACE, a leader in Digital 3D, to offer the first-ever live sports event in 3D HD with special viewing parties for NBA All-Star Saturday Night presented by EA SPORTS™ and the 56th NBA All-Star Game.
I've got one simple reason why the NBA should never, ever, ever, ever, ever go HD 3-D:
Posted at 08:00 AM in All-Star Game | Permalink | Comments (1)
By Craig Kwasniewski
The Sticker Dunk
Despite the low score from the olympic style judging (it scored 42), Dwight Howard put together what I considered the best dunk of the night. Jameer Nelson flips the ball up to Howard who slaps the backboard waaay high up and throws it down. Nothing special, right? The camera focuses high on the backboard and there's a sticker with Howard's face on it. Nelson whips out a tape measure, they both marvel the height and Nelson holds up a sign with 12'6" on it. Good times.
Granted Gerald Green had more explosive dunks, but The Sticker Dunk had everything: athleticism, power and showmanship. The judges should have given him at least a 48! Did we really need to see Nate Robinson (and another year of 10 plus attempts) advance to the finals? Anyway, here's photos of The Sticker Dunk, you be the judge:
Posted at 11:18 PM in All-Star Game, Magic, Photos | Permalink | Comments (6)
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